1992 MLB Amateur Draft

[Maxman]

Draft#:1Phil NevinHt/Wt:/ lbs

Position: 3B

School: Cal State Fullerton University

Draft#:2Paul ShueyHt/Wt:/ lbs

Position: P

School: University of North Carolina

Draft#:3B.J. WallaceHt/Wt:/ lbs

Position: P

School: Mississippi State University

Draft#:4Jeffrey HammondsHt/Wt:/ lbs

Position: OF

School: Stanford University

Draft#:5Chad MottolaHt/Wt:/ lbs

Position: OF

School: University of Central Florida

[Bugg]

Former Astros scout right about Jeter

Add a comment

Stephen Goff

, Houston Astros Examiner

Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser dominated opposing hitters on the mound during the 1940s with the Detroit Tigers, but went on to become a great Major League Baseball scout, as evident with discovering Derek Jeter.

Hall of Fame left-hander Hal Newhouser made a living dominating opponents on the mound for the Detroit Tigers during the 1940s.

Known as "Prince Hal," Newhouser's charming personality made him a fan favorite among Tiger fans, especially since he grew up a schoolboy star in his hometown of Detroit.

It wasn't all a positive experience early in his career as the young Newhouser struggled with control on the mound -- walking more batters than he struck out.

Eventually, Newhouser fulfilled his destiny by developing into the most dominant pitcher of his time.

He concluded his 17-year career posting a 207-150 record with a 3.06 ERA and 1,796 strikeouts, which earned him an induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., by the Veterans Committee in 1992.

Although Newhouser passed away Nov. 10, 1998 at the age of 77, his legacy continues to touch the lives of his family, friends and fans.

"He was truly a gentleman," said Milwaukee Brewers manager Ken Macha, who is Newhouser's first cousin. "Hal followed my playing career and we grew close as my career went along. With our age difference, I always viewed him more as a uncle rather than a cousin."

Newhouser went from struggling pitcher to deadly force on the mound en route to being a seven-time All-Star and World Series champion in 1945.

Everything just clicked.

He won a combined 80 games over a three-year period (1944-46), with a career-high 29 wins in 1944. More amazingly, Newhouser recorded 83 complete games during that timeframe, and logged over 300 innings during the 1944-45 seasons.

Newhouser became the only pitcher in history to win two straight AL MVP Awards (1944-45), yet critics questioned the validity of his accomplishments.

During World War II, Newhouser was classified as 4-F due to a leaky heart valve, and ended up being turned down repeatedly in his attempt to join the service. With most of Major League Baseball's perennial superstars fighting the war, sports writers believed Newhouser simply experienced success against weaker competition.

However, when the boys returned home from war for the 1946 season, Newhouser silenced the critics by posting a 26-9 record with a 1.94 ERA. He tied a career-high 29 complete games and set another career high with 275 strikeouts.

Newhouser remained one of the top pitchers in the game before experiencing arm trouble after the 1950 season. With his career going downhill, he decided to retire in 1955 with the Cleveland Indians.

"What Hal did was truly amazing," Macha said. "I don't think any pitcher will ever duplicate his numbers from 1944 to 1946, especially winning back-to-back MVP Awards. No other pitcher has ever won consecutive MVP Awards. People underestimate how great of a pitcher he really was."

After retirement, Newhouser made a successful transition from Hall of Fame pitcher to working as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles, Indians, Tigers and Houston Astros.

Newhouser had an eye for spotting talent, most notably signing a fellow Detroit high-schooler named Milt Pappas in 1957 while scouting for the Orioles. Pappas, a two-time All-Star right-hander, won 209 career games -- two more than Newhouser -- and tossed a no-hitter with the Chicago Cubs in 1972.

"Hal became close friends with Milt," Macha said. "They were both from Detroit and it meant a lot to him when Milt won his 208th game. Hal wanted Milt to be better than him."

In addition to signing Pappas and former standout pitcher Dean Chance, there was one particular high-school player in Kalamazoo, Mich., that captured Newhouser's attention in the early 1990s -- Derek Jeter.

He loved every aspect of Jeter's game, and was credited with discovering the 10-time All-Star shortstop and five-time World Series champion.

When Jeter was in high school, Newhouser was the Michigan area scout for the Astros.

Newhouser would make an effort to drive over three hours from his home in Bluefield Hills, Mich., to Kalamazoo High School just to meet with Jeter and his family.

Jeter hit .557 as a sophomore, and .508 during both his junior and senior seasons. During the Spring of 1992, Newhouser at 71-years-old was a frequent spectator at Jeter's games.

He strongly lobbied his supervisor, Dan O'Brien, and Astros owner John McMullen to select Jeter with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1992 First-Year Player Draft. The Hall of Fame pitcher proclaimed that Jeter had the talent to become one of the greatest players of all time.

He was right -- yet none of the Astros' management was willing to listen.

At the time, McMullen was unwilling to offer more than $700,000 to sign their first pick. Rumors began circulating that it would take $1 million to sign Jeter as the top overall pick, or else he would accept a scholarship to the University of Michigan.

McMullen made it known he would never offer that kind of money to an unproven talent, and elected to take the safe bet by drafting Cal-State Fullerton outfielder Phil Nevin, who turned out to be a major bust in Houston.

Prior to the draft, O'Brien informed Newhouser of the organization's decision to go with Nevin, which prompted the Hall of Famer to quit his scouting job with the Astros. Newhouser told the front office that Jeter would have signed for $750,000, but nobody wanted to hear it.

Ultimately, Jeter was drafted by the New York Yankees with the sixth overall pick, and the rest became history.

"What can you say about Jeter other than he's one of the greatest ballplayers of all time," Macha added. "He plays the game the right way and is a perfect ambassador to the Yankee organization and New York fans."

Throughout professional sports, every franchise has made mistakes when drafting or not drafting certain players.

It's easy to look back, but in the Astros' case, maybe they would have been a perennial force in the National League, or possibly a World Series champion, with Jeter playing shortstop alongside teammates Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.

You never know, but if the Astros had listened to Newhouser in the first place, Jeter would have initially worn an Astros uniform rather than Yankee pinstripes.

Over the years, Houston fans can pinpoint all the bizarre moves the Astros tend to make. In regard to Jeter, one can speculate that not drafting him might have been the greatest mistake in franchise history.

.

[Maxman]

Interesting read. There is a similar story about the Yankees scout that drafted Jeter. Also began watching him his Sophomore year in high school.

[Bugg]

Interesting read. There is a similar story about the Yankees scout that drafted Jeter. Also began watching him his Sophomore year in high school.

Newhauser wrote a report that basically said talent-wise and makeup-wise Jeter had a shot at being an all time great. When the Astros front office blew it off he went ballistic.

[Maxman]

Newhauser wrote a report that basically said talent-wise and makeup-wise Jeter had a shot at being an all time great. When the Astros front office blew it off he went ballistic.

It is amazing that they called it like that. He wasn't solid defensively when he was young and didn't always make contact. Kudos to them for seeing what he projected into...

[T0mShane]

It is amazing that they called it like that. He wasn't solid defensively when he was young and didn't always make contact. Kudos to them for seeing what he projected into...

Jody Mac's father was an MLB scout and he has a great story about going with him to see this puny high school kid play baseball somewhere. As the story goes, the father said that this player theyre watching would eventually develop into a big power hitter as pro even though he didn't look anything like a slugger as the time. The high school player they were watching was Chipper Jones.

[Maxman]

Jody Mac's father was an MLB scout and he has a great story about going with him to see this puny high school kid play baseball somewhere. As the story goes, the father says that this player would eventually develop into a power hitter as pro even though he didn't look anything like a slugger as a kid. The player they were watching was Chipper Jones.

Michael Kay had a good point about how much harder the MLB draft is. Because you are projecting what a lot of these guys will turn into physically. Since they are often years away from the majors, it makes it much different from the drafts in other sports.

[T0mShane]

Michael Kay had a good point about how much harder the MLB draft is. Because you are projecting what a lot of these guys will turn into physically. Since they are often years away from the majors, it makes it much different from the drafts in other sports.

Michael Kay sucks.

[Maxman]

Michael Kay sucks.

That said, I still liked his insight on the draft.

[Bugg]

Michael Kay had a good point about how much harder the MLB draft is. Because you are projecting what a lot of these guys will turn into physically. Since they are often years away from the majors, it makes it much different from the drafts in other sports.

Devil's advocate-we don't know and will never know if Newhauser's Jeter report was his annual stretch on some scouting job for his local Michigan teen prospect, the work of a crank(albeit a HoF crank)or the real deal, that he genuinely projected Jeter's talent amd makeup. Suspect Newhauser based on his age and career era was not SABR-savvy. "Moneyball" was a damning critique of old time scouts projecting success based on stuff that didn't matter without much hard data to back up their assessments. Either Newhauser was in thr habit of making grand assessments, or he got this one right.

The baseball draft is an inexact way to get talent. How does Mattingly last so long, or Piazza get drafted merely as a favor? Suspect now it's probably more based on hard data and SABR-based assessments, that goes only so far with 18-year olds.However, one other thing that has changed a lot in the last 25 years is kids start specializing in one sport very early, no matter what the sport. Very few kids play more than one sport in high school, and the talented ones play travel team programs before that. A 10-12 year old cannot play hockey and basketball, nor swimming and football, nor lax and soccer. Unless you like being out of the house every weeknight and never doing homework. Baseball these days goes from March until November. So now the scouts in all these sports know who the players are by the time they are in high school. There aren't any hidden talents or unknowns.